In my annual reader wish list, I round up top choices of stores and restaurants that readers would like to see open in the Fox Cities. On Monday, I asked for this year's preferences and the responses flooded in all week.

Readers named more than 120 different stores, cafes, coffee shops and specialty retailers that they'd visited elsewhere and would like to see in their own backyards.

Given that Costco, one of the perennial wish list favorites, plans to build in Grand Chute later this year, that left two of the top three still slow to notice northeastern Wisconsin.

More than one quarter of respondents had Trader Joe's on their lists. It was far and away the top choice. The California-based, affordable, quirky, private label grocery store has branches in the southern part of the state, but no current plans to head north.

Whole Foods Market gets a lot of votes every year, and this year was no different.

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H & M(Photo: Post-Crescent Media)

But it was eclipsed by two big, low-cost retailers — H&M and Ikea —which both garnered more nods. Ikea wouldn't locate in an area this small. Readers hoped the same would not be true for H&M, a clothing store.

Reader Jenny Kue said she and her siblings travel out of town to shop at H&M, which she called "a one-stop shop for an unbeatable price. Fingers crossed."

"Chick-Fil-A is a must have," wrote Nicole Lindsey. "I pray now that Milwaukee and Madison have them, it's only a matter of time here."

Reader Dan Rozinski used the same reasoning for P.F. Chang's.

"Best Chinese food I've ever had," he wrote. "Madison and Milwaukee each have one. It's time to get one here."

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Specialty stores that had a strong following included Charming Charlie.(Photo: Maureen Wallenfang/Post-Crescent Media)

Specialty stores that had a strong following included Charming Charlie, Charlotte Russe, Lush and Urban Outfitters. Both Nordstrom and its off-price offspring, Nordstrom Rack, were on quite a few lists.

Reader Stacy Hofacker wrote in to praise Charming Charlie, a store that focuses on fashionable, affordable accessories. "I drive hours to go to that store multiple times a year. I would love for it to be closer."

This year, there was also a surprising outpouring of support for bygone restaurants and retailers that readers would like to see come back to the area. They included Cracker Barrel, Disney Store, Sonic, Ragstock, Torrid and Grazies.

"I wish the Appleton area would bring back Big Boy and Ponderosa," wrote Mark Lowery.

A handful of readers expressed the opposite view this year. They wanted more original, homegrown and one-of-a-kind shops so that the area doesn't look like a cookie-cutter version of any other American city.

Brian Defferding was one reader who asked for "completely individually owned stores that sell items you cannot find anywhere else. I want individuality, not corporate franchises."

Likewise, Laurie Friedman Fannin didn't sugarcoat it.

"I would to see an uptick in the patronization of locally owned businesses and never see another big-box cooperate vulture with lousy pay and no benefits — Costco is a refreshing exception to this rule — enter this area."